Tag Archives: Cobden Centre

Via The Austrians Were Right, Yet Again, Jeffrey A. Tucker sets out the way it is in the USA: After three-plus years of floundering around, a consensus has finally arrived that we are back in recession. Growth is not happening. The meager statistical growth of the past few years — no one dared claim it amounted to full recovery — was probably illusory. He goes on to catalogue the government interventions which have been a failure before quoting some of […]

Comments Off on The consequences of the impending national bankruptcies » The Cobden Centre

A fascinating perspective from Robert Thorpe at The Cobden Centre – The consequences of the impending national bankruptcies: The governments of Portugal and Ireland are waiting for Greece to default. If that happens then it will likely trigger the bankruptcy of several European banks*. This is the “Second Lehmann Brothers” the UK press have been discussing that could cause another financial crisis. I think such a crisis is likely to happen, but for political reasons more than economic ones. If one […]

Comments Off on A useful nod for the Austrian school of economics? » The Cobden Centre

Via Dr Tim Evans, A useful nod for the Austrian school of economics? » The Cobden Centre: The session in which I spoke was headed ‘The Sovereign Debt Crisis and the Crisis of Sovereignty’ and my partners for the occasion were the British MEP Danniel Hannan and the former Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, Mladen Ivani?. Now, beyond the content of our presentations and the debate that ensued, what was really interesting to me about this venture was how every […]

Strong stuff from Sean Corrigan – I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue! » The Cobden Centre: It was a signal feature of the week that one of the few Grand Wizards of the global Oz in which we live not to give vent to a risible display of reality denial and sophistry was none other than ‘Blackhawk’ Ben Bernanke. The occasion for the Fed Chairman’s uncharacteristic distinction in this regard was the post-FOMC press conference when he not only openly […]

Via Sean Corrigan’s Et in Academia ego » The Cobden Centre, following a consideration of the predicament of Greece: So, rather than relying on the snake oil salesmen to tell us how we should think, let us go back to the basics for a moment to see if they will help clarify the situation in which we find ourselves today. As we never cease to point out, the immediate effect of monetary injections is to reinvigorate business revenue streams and—at […]

Comments Off on Financial regulation and the deception of government intervention » The Cobden Centre

I have written today on financial regulation for The Cobden Centre: In the aftermath of the financial crisis, we are now going down a road towards ‘judgement-based’ regulation of financial firms in an attempt to salvage capitalism. It is proposed that firms will be supervised by what amount to shadow management teams of disinterested, public-spirited individuals more able to reach sound views than firms’ own management teams: they shall possess “the optimal experience and technical ability”. Quite where these mythical philosopher […]

The battle between banks and nation states is shaping up as something that lies between a phony war and a rout. The bald facts are that three years after the crisis in which banking almost brought down the global economy, the biggest banks are bigger, more global and more entrenched in their positions, courtesy of a now all but explicit government guarantee. The author, James Saft, goes on to predict that the next banking crisis will be larger than the […]

Further to Quantitative Easing Explained, Inflation Explained: So inflation is a policy which hurts the poor while it helps certain types of rich people? Indeed, which is why we need fundamental bank reform: the banking system is institutionally inflationary and that is ruining society. Further reading here.

Comments Off on Are Carswell and Baker Really So Wrong? » The Cobden Centre

Over at the Cobden Centre, one of our friends in a central bank reflects on the Banking Commission’s interim report and asks, Are Carswell and Baker Really So Wrong? As reported by Gordon Kerr, the Independent Commission on Banking issued its Interim Reportlast Monday. The Commission’s mission is to propose structural and other reforms of the UK banking sector. The objective being that big bank failures (rescued with taxpayers’ money) and the near collapse of the UK financial system we saw in late […]

As a derivatives trader for 19 years, Detlev Schlichter resigned his position as a senior bond portfolio manager in 2009 to work full-time on this book, about fiat monetary systems and financial crises. He therefore knows of what he speaks. In this extensive and detailed interview, he explores with Brian Micklethwait what we should do to get our current financial problems behind us; this one really is worth listening to in its 35-minute entirety. Listen to the interview via Cobden […]